Castor oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing the seeds of the castor oil plant Ricinus communis. Worldwide castor oil production is estimated to be about 0.9 million metric tons per year, with a large proportion being produced in India, China, and Brazil. Castor oil comprises triacylglyceride polyols, having unsaturated and hydroxylated fatty acids, and as such it may be used to manufacture polyurethanes, cosmetics, lubricants, surfactants, greases, coatings, inks, personal care goods, detergents, oleochemicals, and the like. Castor oil is a renewable bio-based product, but suffers from large fluctuations in supply and price. Castor beans also contains ricin which is highly toxic to humans and animals.
In polymer chemistry and materials science, polyols are chemical compounds with multiple hydroxyl functional groups available for chemical reactions. A major use of polyols is as a reactant to make polymers. Polyols may also be used for other purposes including in cosmetic formulations, lubricants and as chemical intermediates. Polyols themselves may be monomeric or oligomeric.
Polyol production from renewable, non-petroleum based sources is desirable from a sustainability perspective. Methods are known for the preparation of polyols from vegetable oil, however, such methods typically involve harsh reaction conditions that are not easily controlled, and typically involve expensive starting materials and catalysts. Unsaturated natural oils or fatty acids may be oxidized via ozonolysis, or epoxidized with peroxy acids, followed by hydroxylation with nucleophiles.
It may be desirable to produce polyols having properties similar to castor oil from naturally sourced oils, which may allow for castor oil replacement or other industrial use, while mitigating the disadvantages of the prior art.